Posts Tagged ‘chevy centennial’

Chevy's Centennial Edition Silverado and Colorado have enjoyed impressive sales since being introduced.

Trucks are hot now as their sales account for a steadily growing share of vehicles sold in the United States.

But the popularity of trucks also runs very deep and is built on very solid foundation, according to Sandor Piszar, Chevrolet Truck marketing and advertising operations.

Product News!

Piszar explained during a briefing this week that Chevrolet’s decision to bring out a “Centennial Edition” of its immensely popular pick-up truck has been a runaway success. “We can’t build them fast enough,” he said. (more…)

A rendering of the monument that will go into a park in Louis Chevrolet's Swiss hometown.

No, that’s not the world’s largest wad of used aluminum foil. Stare more closely and you’ll pick out the trademark mustache of auto racer and automotive pioneer Louis Chevrolet.

The rendering seen here is an approximation of what it will look like when a large chrome bust goes into Park West in La Chaux-du-Fonds, Switzerland, Louis Chevrolet’s birthplace. The work of artist Christian Gonzenbach, it was selected from a wide range of entries in an international competition designed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the iconic automotive brand and its founder.

Ultimately, an international jury had to select from four quite distinct and different ways of interpreting Louis Joseph Chevrolet’s role in automotive history. The polished steel bust, measuring 16.4 feet, will be a permanent fixture in the park, which anchors a community that serves as home to Omega, Movado and a number of other well-known Swiss watch companies.

He tried his hand at making cars but the real passion for Louis Joseph Chevrolet was racing them.

Better late than never for the town of La Chaux-de-Fonds.

Nestled into the snow-covered Alps, it’s not a place the tourists often go, even if it is the third-largest community in the French-speaking cantons of Switzerland. Yet its reach is surprisingly broad. A disproportionate share of the town’s residents tick off their days toiling in the watch industry, with eagerly-sought brands like Rolex, Omega, Movado and Girard-Perregaux headquartered here.

But some of La Chaux-de-Fonds’ more legendary citizens had to leave to find their fame, among them Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as architect Le Corbusier, and Louis Joseph Chevrolet. The latter, the son of a local watchmaker, was born in the Jura Mountains town in 1878 but left by the time he was 20 to pursue a career in racing and automobile manufacturing.

He is, of course, the man who lent his name to the Chevrolet Motor Car Company, which the American emigrant cofounded with Billy Durant – himself the founder of General Motors, who had been forced out of GM and was looking for a way to get back into the auto industry. Their venture was officially registered on November 3, 1911, triggering the extensive centennial celebrations that ran most of last year.

Your Source!

And for good reason. After emerging from bankruptcy two years earlier, GM abandoned a number of brands, including well-known Pontiac, shifting emphasis to the marques still remaining. Chevrolet is playing a particular important role as the singular focus of GM’s global expansion plans. The maker set an all-time sales record of more than 5 million vehicles last month – clicking off an additional sale “every six seconds,” as Susan Docherty, president of Chevrolet of Europe is quick to point out.